Albania is one of the Mediterranean countries wherein the effects of climate change are the most evident, as witnessed by the swift erosion of the coastline.
The webdoc “Voices from the East“, by Marco Carlone, Francesco Rasero and Eleonora Anello, sets out to document effects of climate change and strategies to tackle them in the Western Balkans. To that purpose, a video report of the state of the Albanian coastline reveals how the country is already being affected by climate change.
Endri Haxhiraj, of the Institute for Environmental Policy, an NGO founded in 2008, describes how Albania has seen the increasing rise of sea levels, with human activity exacerbating the effects of climate change on the coast.
River diversion that prevents sediment from being deposited in the sea and coastal deforestation are making coastal erosion worse. Likewise, construction companies excavating sand from the coast to build tourist residences is further aiding in the rising of sea levels.
Sea barriers built along the coast will not be enough to contain the rise of sea levels, Haxhiraj warns. One of the first casualties of this rise in sea levels has been the Kune-Vain freshwater lagoon, wherein seawater from the advancing sealine severely damaged the lagoon habitat.
